Tue, 07 Aug 2018 14:45:19 -0600WeeblyFri, 15 Nov 2013 13:53:41 GMThttp://www.missadventure.life/adventures-2013/disney-area-quick-trip We’re bored and it’s time to go for a quick trip south. Rosie drops us off in Providence and Ellen and I jump on JetBlue to Orlando. Park, Bark and Fly picks us up at the airport and drops us at the motorhome. Sunshine, 75 degrees, what’s not to like? The motorhome roars to life, the new solar charging system worked perfectly, and we roll out to Lake Magic Resort on 192 west of Disney World. Lake Magic appears to be a nice relaxing resort and we are in a great campsite near the clubhouse and pool area. We are about to have a very busy few days! Jody is in the area along with her friends from the horse farm. Her boyfriend Steve flies in from Indianapolis and the four of us head off to Disney to see the Osborne Lights and catch a few of the sights, getting early dinner at Downtown Disney. They leave the next day for Atlanta and Indiana. Ellen and I jump in the car and head to Fort Myers for the day to catch up with Ed, April, Scott, Jodi and Charlee. They take us out to Ford’s Garage, a great antique Gas Station themed restaurant in Cape Coral. The theme concept was fabulous and the food was great too. Mom and Dad came to visit at the campground and we traded gas grills with them. We had been looking at the Coleman grills and Dad decided to give us his. He took the table top O’Grille with him to meet all his outdoor grilling needs. Put the motorhome back away at PBF, took the bus to MCO, and JetBlue to PVD. Marie picked us up in her seriously broken car! I thought the tire was going to fall right off, I even got out and checked all her lug nuts and anything else I could see. It turns out that one of her tires had an internal belt separation and needed to be replaced. The adventure never ends.

]]>Wed, 11 Sep 2013 12:50:25 GMThttp://www.missadventure.life/adventures-2013/heading-south-for-winter-storage Summer is coming to a close and it is time to bring Miss Adventure back to the warm comfort of Florida. We’ve planned a fabulous trip south and Marie has decided to come along for the ride. Marie has volleyball so we are getting a late start and will travel in darkness for the first leg of our journey. Ellen and I are ready to head out and TJ and Corey come to see us off. We quickly determine that there is no 12 volt power inside the camper and after a few minutes of hectic troubleshooting, determine that the house battery switch is turned off, problem solved, we are on our way. We are following the same path South as last year which will take us to a quick overnight at the Petro Truck Stop in Scranton, PA then on to Hershey for the annual RV Show. The Hershey show is fun but we're dodging occasional rain showers throughout the day. We leave Hershey in the afternoon and head toward Baltimore, Washington, and points south as the rain continues to follow along with us. The storm finally gets serious in Virginia along with nightfall, now we are driving in the dark through a torrential thunderstorm and finally find a place in lower Virginia to call it quits for the night. Today is Friday the 13th and we have a long drive ahead of us. We are traveling from Virginia to Disney World and somehow manage to get there during daylight. We realize Disney is running a special Villains Night at the Magic Kingdom and consider going but quickly change our minds as we find out the park is at total capacity, guests are being turned away, and there is a massive traffic jam of people still trying to enter. We settle into our site at Fort Wilderness, get a little supper, and head off to bed. The rest of this trip is spent relaxing and enjoying all that Disney has to offer. Marie’s cousin and her family come to visit for a day. Skip and Helene come to spend a day with us as well and both of them ride Cinderella’s Carousel with Ellen. During our stay we get to catch Opening Ceremonies at the Magic Kingdom, Chef Mickey’s Breakfast at the Contemporary Resort, and Chip and Dale and Goofy doing the YMCA in front of Space Mountain… wish Karl was here, he loves the YMCA! Marie decided she would do Jumping Jacks anytime someone told her to “Have A Magical Day”. She did a lot of Jumping Jacks! Now it’s time to leave and head on back to MA. We bring the motorhome over to Park, Bark and Fly but no one is in the office to get us all set up. The gate person lets us in and we drive out back, pick a spot for the camper and a spot for the car. We leave one of the battery switches on to test the new solar charging system and head to the airport. I’ll call the PBF office later to take care of the paperwork.

The camper has been sitting in the driveway for almost 2 months without being used. We really want to take it somewhere so we decide to head to Mohegan Sun for a quick overnight. Karl and I have been doing a lot of maintenance and upgrades on the unit and I want to make sure everything is operating correctly before heading to Florida. We get a nice space in the RV lot and head to the casino for supper and a little gambling. Supper is good but we don’t win in the casino. We are back in the camper early hoping to watch the NASCAR race on TV but we find out that this part of CT has terrible antenna reception. Sunday is a beautiful morning by the river and I relax in the lawn chair before we head to the casino for breakfast and a little more gambling. We have better luck gambling and actually break even for the weekend. It is time to head home and Ellen announces that she will drive Miss Adventure home. This is the first long trip she is driving. She skillfully gets us out of the casino and all the way to the gas station in Oxford before handing the reins over to me to drive the backroads to the house. The motorhome is working great and should be ready for the big trip back to Florida for the winter.

]]>Fri, 02 Aug 2013 10:59:47 GMThttp://www.missadventure.life/adventures-2013/michigan-in-the-mini Ellen volunteers for a business trip to Howell, Michigan, it is the regional headquarters for Hanover Insurance and also just happens to be the town where my cousin Alison lives. In fact, my Aunt Joan and her three daughters all live near Howell. Ellen is going to be at the office all week and I decide to drive the Mini Cooper out there on Friday for the weekend. Alison and her husband Billy have everyone over the house for a picnic on Saturday and we spend the whole day talking about old times and catching up with Aunt Joan, Gail, Leslie, Alison and their families. It has been several years since we’ve spent time with these guys, so it is a very special day for us. We even get to meet Gail's fiance, Dave. Ellen jumps in the Cooper with me on Sunday and we head home. We stay overnight in Syracuse, NY, grab an early supper before bedtime, then travel the rest of the way home on Monday.

]]>Fri, 19 Jul 2013 12:07:19 GMThttp://www.missadventure.life/adventures-2013/bicycling-the-erie-canal Every few years we get together with some friends for a scenic two day bike ride. On our first trip we took an amazing one hundred mile ride from the top of the Florida Keys all the way to Key West, then a few years later we spent two incredible days winding our way through the Covered Bridges of Vermont. This year we have decided to travel a portion of the New York Erie Canalway. The Erie Canalway is a 365 mile trail from Buffalo to Albany. Some of it is paved and some is stone dust. We decide to ride the 100 mile section from Herkimer to Albany which is at least 50% paved, what we didn’t know was that this area had been devastated by late spring flooding which destroyed several sections of the trail along the way. We drive up on Friday afternoon and settle into the Herkimer Motel, walk a half mile to the local diner for supper and then head back for the night. Free early breakfast on Saturday and we are ready to ride. Jody, Marie, Bernie, Karl and I all ride off toward the trail entrance. Ellen and Rosie will drive the cars to Amsterdam where we will spend Saturday night. The trail in Herkimer looks really nice, paved, smooth and a great view of the historic Canalway. Everything looks perfect except for a beat up construction sign tossed next to the trail that says “Trail Closed”. We ignore this warning and head down the trail anyway. It isn’t long before the pavement runs out and we have to ride on stone dust, then we start to see the washed out areas from the flooding. We are not deterred. The trail winds through several towns along the riverbank before we find the mud. The mud was thin so we tried to ride through it. It was the stickiest mud ever, it built up on the tires until they would not turn. We walked and carried the bikes through the mud until we came to a stream and could wash them off. We got on a paved road then came upon a homemade storm drain that was pouring water out of the mountain. Karl used it to hose off all of the bicycles and we were on the road again. We met up with Ellen and Rosie in Fort Plain for lunch at a local restaurant, then again in the afternoon at an ice cream stand. It started raining, and we got soaked travelling the last 2 miles to the motel. Sunday’s ride was much better, mostly paved, more scenic, and fabulous views of the river and countryside. This segment does include a steep hill climb in Schenectady but it is well worth the effort. We eventually make our way into Albany where the trail ends in a beautiful City Park. We have lunch on the Riverboat before driving back to Massachusetts.

]]>Thu, 04 Jul 2013 21:06:55 GMThttp://www.missadventure.life/adventures-2013/cars-of-summer Marissa and Gary have decided to run a large classic car show at Green Hill Park in Worcester and have recruited a variety of volunteers. Karl and I volunteer to help out on set-up day, Wednesday July 3rd. We get easily sucked into the excitement of the event and I volunteer to bring Miss Adventure down and spend the weekend helping out. We setup the camper on Wednesday night and help them early Thursday morning before heading home to host a 4th of July party at our house. Our party ends around 6 or 7 pm and we head back up to Green Hill Park to spend the rest of the weekend. Karl and I help out doing a variety of tasks to help things run smoothly and the event is a great success. Ellen had to work most of the time and really didn’t get a chance to spend much time with us. The event brings in hundreds of gorgeous cars from all over New England. They spread out around this park to create a beautiful sight. There are live bands, food vendors, Kid activities and a car cruise around the city each night. The weather is incredibly hot but the sun is shining and there is no rain. We plan to do this event again next year and we may even bring the Kubota, so it should be fun.

]]>Fri, 21 Jun 2013 21:03:17 GMThttp://www.missadventure.life/adventures-2013/girls-weekend-at-salisbury-beach This is supposed to be “Girl’s Weekend” but the only one available is Marie, so we invite her to bring her niece Amanda along as well. The junction of 290 and 495 was closed due to an accident and we ended up diverting through the backroads of Marlboro and Bolton before rejoining 495 north. We arrive late to the campground but setup is easy and we still get to enjoy the evening. The weather is absolutely fantastic all weekend and Rosie joins us Saturday afternoon. Rosie’s family (including some from Tennessee) call to say they are nearby at a seafood restaurant so we invite them to come join us at the campsite for a while. They all arrive in one van, There are 8 or 9 of them squeezed into the van, but they are having a great time. They stay for a couple hours before piling back into the van and heading off into the sunset. Marie, Amanda and I take the bikes on a ride along Route 1 south along the seashore. Amanda stops just before crossing the bridge to Newburyport but Marie and I continue on for a quick loop through downtown. When we get back to Amanda we find that she has discovered a really nice RailTrail and we ride the trail back to Salisbury. We continue our perfect weekend and head home on Monday.

Ronnie joins us for a fun weekend in Salisbury. It started raining right as we got to Salisbury, so we got to set up in the rain. It’s early season and pretty quiet here, so we manage to get a 50amp campsite in row A, right near the beach. It took us a while to find the water hookup for the site because the bushes had grown in around it and we did have some water puddles from the rain. The rain stopped and we had a very nice, relaxing weekend watching MeTV, one of Ronnie’s favorites.

It’s Friday May 17th and Karl, Ellen and I fly JetBlue to Orlando. We arrive and get picked up at baggage claim by PB&F. While we are on the transport bus Ellen gets a phone call that her mother has fallen and is in the hospital. She contacts Elmo and Bonnie and they move into action. We get to the motorhome to discover the batteries are dead again so we start the genny and wait a while for it to charge the batts. While we are waiting we prep the motorhome, hook up the mini, mount the bike rack, etc.I suddenly notice that the rear cargo door on both sides are all scratched up, almost like animal scratches but in all different directions. It doesn’t take us long to determine that there is a flock of wild turkeys nearby and one of them must have seen his own reflection and got into an extreme battle with himself. While we are discoving the turkey episode outside, Ellen is finding that a critter was apparently inside at some point and did some chewing to a variety of items. It wasn’t long before we found out that the chewing included wiring under the dash that controls the rear view camera. You never know when it’s going to turn into a Miss Adventure.We stayed at the KOA in Davenport and Karl and I worked on the wiring repair. Jodi Bellefeuille was participating in the Ironman Triathlon nearby and we spent the day with the Bellefuille family cheering Jodi on. It was exciting and fun.We hit the road on Monday morning and headed home stopping in Brunswick for our annual oil change and lube service. All went well except for the downpour of rain while we were there. We continued north and stayed overnight in a Rest Area in North Carolina. We traveled all day on Tuesday through Virginia, DC, Baltimore, and up through Pennsylvania and stayed overnight at the Connecticut Welcome Center on 84. The welcome center is very large with a separate parking area for RVs and it even had a Dump Station. every Welcome Center should have an RV Dump Station!We arrived home Wednesday morning and made room in the driveway for the Motorhome to spend the summer.

Now we can take a deep breath and relax for a couple days before going home to Massachusetts. The KOA here in Davenport is nice and quiet, Ellen is working again and I spend the next couple days shaking the beach sand out of everything and hand washing the motorhome again. These few days actually turn out to be the best way to end a vacation. We get to totally relax and prep the RV for storage at Park, Bark and Fly. The Mini will also be staying at PBF and we will be flying home on JetBlue. We will be back in May to cheer Jodi Bellefeuille as she competes in a Triathlon event near Davenport, then we’ll hook up the Mini and drive Miss Adventure home to Mass for the summer.

Looking out our front window at a soft sandy beach and the Gulf of Mexico. These spaces at the Red Coconut are pretty small but Miss Adventure fits nicely onto Row 1 and her front toes are relaxing on the beach sand. The weather is fabulous and Marie has joined us for a few days. Tommy, Corey, and TJ Lee come over for a couple visits and bring Scott, Jodi, and Charlee Bellefeuille along with them. They are enjoying the beach and the motorhome gives them an easy place for rest rooms and an afternoon air conditioned nap. Ed and April threw an excellent SuperBowl party giving us an opportunity to visit with all our Fort Myers friends. Ed took me golfing with his group from the Elks, we had a lot of fun and I only lost one golf ball (a new record). I rode the bicycle almost every day, traveling out to Sanibel and down to Bonita Beach, I got a flat tire for the first time in a long time and had to do a tube replacement. Three other bicyclists stopped to see if I needed any help, fellow bicyclists are always there when you need them. Time flies by when we’re here because we have so many friends and so much to do. Now it is time to head back north, first to Davenport then back to Massachusetts. Before we go, we make sure to reserve our spot for next year. Ellen gets to back the motorhome out of the site and draws a huge crowd of onlookers. She is pretty good at it and gets it out easy. I drive the coach to Topp’s parking lot and Ellen meets me there with the Mini so we can hook it up for towing. Now it’s off to Davenport with the Mini “pushin as hard as she can”.

]]>Fri, 18 Jan 2013 21:38:55 GMThttp://www.missadventure.life/adventures-2013/disney-in-january We are staying at the KOA in Davenport, we like it here and it is convenient to Disney and Lakeland.Jody Nichols and Steve dropped in from Indianapolis on Saturday for a quick overnight and stayed with us til Monday, we had a great time just hanging around the campground.Ellen worked most of the days in Davenport but set some time apart to go visit mom and dad in Lakeland and also met them at Magic Kingdom one day. The new Fantasyland was exciting and the Laser Light show on Cinderella’s Castle was incredible. I spent most days cleaning and waxing the camper and riding the bike. The bike rides were awesome in through the local orange groves. The oranges are in season and the groves look and smell wonderful.Mike and Linda Corby joined us at the end of our stay in Davenport. They stayed at the Hotel next door and we all went to visit the Mouse together, Two days, Two parks per day. We had a great time and really enjoyed the American Idol evening finals.We’re heading off to Fort Myers Beach next. Mike and Linda take the Mini and head for Naples. We head over to Tampa to get the Allison serviced and then to FMB and the Red Coconut.

]]>Thu, 17 Jan 2013 21:34:49 GMThttp://www.missadventure.life/adventures-2013/florida-rv-supershow The Tampa Supershow is happening and we are going for two days. The Supershow is the largest RV show in the US and features every imaginable camper all in one large fairground location. Mom and Dad join us on Friday as we wander through all types of Motorhomes and other RVs. We even got into a few Newells and Prevosts, pretty impressive units. Ellen and I returned on Saturday to really spend some time (and money) on accessories and maintenance items. We purchased a TPMS system, some Onan filters for the genny and arranged to get the Allison transmission fully serviced.]]>Tue, 15 Jan 2013 21:27:49 GMThttp://www.missadventure.life/adventures-2013/driving-the-cooper-to-florida

We are really looking forward to going south for a while. One full month, this will be the longest time we have ever been away from home. Ellen will work some of the time from the office in the motorhome and I will work if they need me. After carefully packing the Mini for the trip (it doesn’t hold very much), we head out on the afternoon of Tuesday January 15th. Snow is coming to the Northeast and we miss it by just a few hours. We both quickly find that the Mini is far more comfortable for the long trip than we expected. Driving well into Tuesday evening we manage to get below Washington DC and just into Virginia, this will allow us to miss the morning DC traffic. We continue our trek southward on Wednesday and make it to Daytona Beach around dusk. The Mini is averaging about 29mpg and we can’t seem to stretch it further. Thursday morning is a beautiful day and we head off for the short trip to Orlando to get Miss Adventure out of storage and dust her off.